Margot Velvet

Tag: spirit guides

  • On Ancestors

    On Ancestors

    Hello, internet! It has been a LONG time since I have written here. I think this is because I was making so much progress and doing so much learning and it was all clicking that I didn’t feel the need to pause. To stop. To digest by writing it out.

    Now I am thinking about ancestry work. This is not unfamiliar to me. Growing up Mormon (blech), there was a strong focus on genealogical work. We were taught to trace our heritage and honor our ancestors and to do “work” for them on this earth – performing baptisms and marriage rituals through the church on their behalf, so they had an to opportunity to join the religion posthumously. Absurd. It always seemed wrong to me. Intrusive. Arrogant. Disrespectful. I stayed away from it and tried not to participate.

    Now, on the coming days before Samhain, a lot of focus in the community is on ancestry work. It has a different meaning here: honor them by learning their lessons, breaking generational cycles, asking them for guidance and support, or sending messages beyond the veil. This makes sense. This is done with love, not out fear or judgement, like how it was in Mormonism.

    Today, I will be going to get some dirt for my first Ancestor Bottle.

    We take all of these things, with reverence, to utilize their magical properties; like for like.

    Graveyard Dirt // Earth (…it’s dirt.)
    Sea Salt // Air (evaporation)
    Rice // Water (grows within it)
    Glass Jar // Fire (created by heat)

    Rosemary // Ruled by the Sun (solary)
    Rose Petals // Ruled by Venus – Air and Water – love
    Tobacco // protection – divination – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate
    Lavender // Ruled by Jupiter – Air – calm
    Bay Leaf // catalyst for other magical objects
    Corn or Corn Husk // Ruled by Jupiter – Air
    Sweetgrass // cleansing – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate
    Chili pepper // protection – regeneration – omitting because it is not culturally appropriate
    Moss // Ruled by the Sun (solary) – life after death – co-existence
    Chrysanthemums // devotion – thriving in difficult times
    Personal trinkets (photos, msgs, jewelry)

    I am looking forward to posting more about this later.

    ///// e d i t /////

    Here it is:

  • On Spirit Guides

    On Spirit Guides

    Just now I was having a panic attack in the kitchen. Overcome with anger and frustration with the state of the world (this, in the time of pandemic and pandemic-deniers) and politics, complicated by my lack of sleep, I was literally rocking in my chair with my head in my hands on the verge of tears.

    My husband piped up, “Think of other people, that can help.” So my mind went to my family — suffering in the loneliness of quarantine. Not helpful. I tried to sing a favorite song from my childhood, “Don’t Turn Around” by Ace of Base (so cheesy, I know) but the way it came out of me, garbled and remorseful, was such a mockery that it made me laugh instead.

    For some reason, I picked my head up and asked my husband, “Do you believe in spirit guides or guardian angels, that kind of thing?” He said he didn’t know and turned the question back to me. I thought for a bit and considered the hokey TV psychics (most notably the British guy from Most Haunted who always consulted trusty “Sam”) and said “…mmmmNo. Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

    “Why do you ask?” he queried. “I think you do. Don’t you feel better now than you did five minutes ago?”

    “Well, yeah.. but I don’t know. Thinking about woo-woo stuff makes me feel better.”

    “So rationalizing it does what, exactly? I think you answered your own question and immediately threw out the answer.”

    “But if I had a spirit guide or a guardian angel, wouldn’t I know? Wouldn’t I know who they were?”

    “No. Think about that. If their purpose is to guide you, if you knew for sure they were there, it would defeat the purpose.”

    Okay, so he worded things a lot more elegantly than that and the conversation continued on. The point is quite valid. If we do have guides or angels, their purpose is to gently guide us, to push us in the right direction, to subtly influence us or provide inspired insight or comfort. Would it not be … ruined? if we knew they were there…?

    Humans are stubborn. Our desire to rebel is strong and difficult to resist. Most of us are guilty of being defiant just because we don’t like being told what to do. We like to think our good ideas are OUR good ideas. We can sometimes be reluctant to give credit. And even in times when a thought seems to pop into our heads, seemingly from nowhere, we still take credit for subconsciously putting it there… somehow.

    I am open-minded to spirit guides, even if I am still (even after this, sorry, Universe) skeptical. I tend to disbelieve people who see and know their guides, especially by name. I don’t know if I believe fully in angels – except in the case of passed-on relatives who are occasionally visiting their loved ones. I definitely am resistant to the idea that people are assigned guardian angels (especially with wings and halos – it seems so, SO wrong somehow!); some random soul who is charged with looking after you from beyond. Seems ludicrous. But then again… anything can be possible. So once more, I am left with more questions than answers.

    For now, I am satisfied with wondering and keeping my distance. Spirit Guide, Angel, if you are out there listening, thanks for helping me feel better. I won’t blow your cover. 🙂